November 3, 2014

A group headed by University of California, San Francisco health scientists has found that drinking sugar-sweetened sodas may cause significant premature aging. A breakdown of data on over 5,300 U.S. adults ages 20 to 65 revealed that the more sugary soda one consumes, the shorter one's telomeres become. Telomeres are indicators of cellular aging, and based on their observed degree of reduction, researchers estimate that drinking eight ounces of soda per day is associated with nearly two years of advanced aging, while 20 ounces a day corresponds to 4.6 years. This shortening effect is roughly the same as that produced by smoking, and was consistent regardless of race, age, income and education. There was no such shortening effect seen with non-sugary soda or fruit juice consumption.

Ebola virus was identified in 1976 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), but the drug industry didn't develop a vaccine or find a cure, and the World Health Organization (WHO) says that a drive for profit is to blame. New York Times reports that Dr. Margaret Chan, director general of WHO, said that the organization's warnings about drug industry greed were ignored for decades. According to WHO, the drug industry doesn't invest in drugs for markets that can't afford to pay. Since Ebola was first discovered in an impoverished nation, the drug companies had no incentive to develop a vaccine, alleges WHO.

A nasal vaccine being developed by University of Texas at Austin researchers may offer hope for long-term protection from the Ebola virus. Researchers say that results from a small pre-clinical study with non-human primates show the only currently existing proof that one dose of a non-injectable vaccine for Ebola may give long-lasting protection. Given the costs of syringe distribution and safety, a nasal spray is more practical for immunization, note researchers. Researchers plan to move forward with a Phase I clinical trial to test the effectiveness of the vaccine in humans. The current pre-clinical findings will be presented on November 5 during the 2014 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Annual Meeting and Exposition.